On her first night back in the country, Fang Wanzhen stumbled into Zong Shenzhi's arms at a foreign trading house banquet.
Everyone in Ningzhou knew this "Imperial Uncle" by reputation: a relative of the former Qing imperial family, he controlled half the city's businesses and its armed forces. His cold stare could make children cry.
No one knew that ten years ago, he had personally torn up their engagement contract and walked away, causing her mother to die of a sudden illness and forcing her to flee to a distant land.
She pretended they were strangers and kept him at arm's length, but he pressed her at every turn. When her stepmother gave her a hard time, he offered a way out. When her half-sister tried to take her things, he confiscated them. When anyone targeted the Fang family's business, he snuffed them out overnight.
She was furious, snapping at him every time and insisting they had nothing to do with each other, yet every time, he stood in front of her and protected her.
It wasn't until she found half a jade pendant at the bottom of her mother's old trunk that she realized the handwriting on that heartless letter from years ago wasn't his at all.
